Chapter 058: Leaving WF County Town

Li Gang drew a sharp breath at her words, suddenly understanding why, when watching anime, a single level difference in power could be so vast. Lin Yan continued, “Throughout the entire series, in terms of martial arts, Goku was the first to propose the idea of ‘surpassing Super Saiyan,’ something Vegeta, who was also a Super Saiyan at the time, had never even considered.

“So the difference in their approaches is clear. Vegeta’s way of getting stronger was to continuously enhance his power in his normal state, thereby increasing his combat strength after transforming into a Super Saiyan. Goku, on the other hand, sought to transform again on top of his Super Saiyan form, breaking through its limits.

“To achieve this, Goku used various methods in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. In essence, he was exploring martial arts, inventing ways to maintain his transformed state in daily life, so his body would adapt to the strain, laying the groundwork to surpass the Super Saiyan threshold.

“Meanwhile, Vegeta’s vision was much narrower. He only knew to relentlessly train his basics. That’s the real reason why, as the story progressed, the gap between their powers widened so much. In simpler terms, Vegeta just blindly practiced external techniques, while Goku cultivated both the internal and external, achieving an extraordinary Super Saiyan 3 in the end.

“In martial arts, Goku was the undisputed master of transformation. The core of it was that he didn’t simply rely on inheritance, but actively explored and created new possibilities, ultimately forging his own path.

“That’s why, by the later stages of the manga, the symbol on Goku’s martial arts uniform changed from ‘Kame’ to ‘悟’—meaning ‘enlightenment’.”

Li Gang was deeply moved after listening, though he still had doubts, especially about Vegeta, who was eternally second. So he asked, “In this anime, Goku is indeed, as you said, a martial arts master. But I don’t recall the gap between him and Vegeta growing that much. Didn’t Vegeta eventually catch up and even create his own deep blue transformation?”

Deep blue transformation?

This time, it was Lin Yan’s turn to be puzzled. “What deep blue transformation? I’ve only finished the second part of the manga. Is there a sequel? I thought it ended with the second part?”

She had no recollection of such a transformation, and her father’s treasured complete collection of Dragon Ball ended with the second part.

“I vaguely remember seeing it when I watched with my mother, but I didn’t pay much attention. Maybe it was fan-made anime,” Li Gang guessed, seeing Lin Yan had no impression of the so-called deep blue transformation.

After all, a hugely popular work often spawns countless fan creations and spin-offs.

Lin Yan then told Li Gang about other famous characters from different martial arts and fantasy novels, but none resonated with him as deeply as the character sharing a name with the Great Sage Equal to Heaven from Chinese mythology in Dragon Ball.

The reason was simple. Of all the stories Lin Yan mentioned, Dragon Ball—and its anime adaptation—was the only one he’d watched all the way through.

Whenever Li Gang practiced his sword basics, he would recall the martial arts principles Lin Yan had shared with him that afternoon.

Perhaps, the so-called martial arts principles were elusive before the apocalypse, but now, in this decade-long life-and-death hunting game, they held real value.

So now, when practicing his sword techniques, he no longer blindly repeated them, but instead took the extra step of pondering why each move was practiced this way, what subtleties lay in the techniques refined by those before him.

In the afternoon’s second sparring session against Lin Yan, Li Gang was once again defeated miserably.

It wasn’t because he hadn’t made any progress—rather, Lin Yan was improving just as quickly, growing ever stronger.

Even at night, when Li Gang diligently trained with the fragmentary guidance technique, he felt it would be hard to close the gap with Lin Yan in the short term.

He was also aware that since the day they had formed an alliance, Lin Yan hadn’t used any further opportunities for strengthening.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

On the twenty-eighth day of the game, at five in the morning, Li Gang awoke from his sleep and habitually called up his personal information panel.

By then, over 510 people had been eliminated.

Upon waking, he found that, in the five hours since midnight, he had gained five more opportunities to strengthen himself and to fully heal.

This meant that, while he slept, more than fifty people had been hunted and eliminated.

Following the 1:1 ratio he had discussed with Lin Yan, he now had 14 unused strengthening chances and 24 unused healing chances.

Over these three days, he had strengthened his mental attribute twice, his strength and speed once each, and hadn’t touched his stamina.

His aim was to boost his learning efficiency.

Whether practicing combat techniques, the Eight Steps of the Wandering Dragon, swordsmanship, or the fragmentary guidance technique, his progress had been remarkable. Once his mental stat surpassed 150, no matter how exhausting his daily training, as long as he slept more than five hours, he could fully recover physically and mentally.

Now, his panel showed drastic changes.

Stamina: 318.

Mental: 155.

Strength: 135.

Speed: 134.

His overall combat power had increased by more than a hundred points compared to three days earlier, reaching 268—far above the average of his four attributes, which was 185.

Yesterday morning, after another sparring session, Lin Yan needed at least three rounds to defeat him.

She judged that he had mastered the basics and had essentially learned the Eight Steps of the Wandering Dragon, so she relaxed her daytime training requirements, allowing him to choose his own practice.

Lin Yan’s approval delighted Li Gang so much that he cheered for a long while before calming down.

During dinner last night, Lin Yan told him that his training had reached a stage where staying here was of little further use. She decided they would set out early this morning for a nearby military base to begin the next stage of training.

Li Gang washed up, grabbed the last bag he had packed the night before, and found Lin Yan in the kitchen.

After breakfast, they left the fitness center together.

In the SUV, Lin Yan was in the passenger seat, checking the map, while Li Gang looked out the driver’s window at the building.

This place held many fond memories for him and Lin Yan, filling his heart with emotion.

“Let’s go. Stop staring,” Lin Yan said, turning from the map to find Li Gang lost in thought as he gazed outside.

Li Gang pulled himself back, started the SUV, and drove in the direction she indicated.

Along the way, they occasionally stopped to move abandoned vehicles blocking the road.

Lin Yan kept the tracking map open at all times. Whenever they neared a lone Chosen One, that person would immediately move away.

“From what I’ve observed these days, our country’s Chosen Ones have the lowest elimination rate. Of the more than 500 eliminated, most are from other nations,” Lin Yan said, watching a glowing dot thirty kilometers ahead quickly moving away, her brows furrowed.

“Sister Lin, if it’s mostly foreigners dying, isn’t that a good thing?” Li Gang replied cheerfully.

As long as he could spend every day with Lin Yan, he cared little for anything else, and had no interest in worrying about it.

He didn’t even want to think about the ten-year hunting game, the gods, or the Chosen Ones.

He simply treasured each day spent with Lin Yan.

“Ah, but this may not be so fortunate in the long run,” Lin Yan replied.

“Not fortunate? You mean—” Li Gang quickly caught her meaning. “Our country’s Chosen Ones can survive in large numbers early on, but as time passes, once the foreign Chosen Ones have been tempered, the survivors will be strong enough to invade our country, and no one will be able to stop them.”

Lin Yan glanced at Li Gang in surprise. After five days together, she was increasingly satisfied with him—his martial arts talent, mental fortitude, and quick grasp of situations were all exceptional.

“That’s right, but you’re only partially correct. I’m also worried about another possibility: the gods may introduce new twists.

“Although the number of eliminations has increased each day, the rate of increase has slowed. Soon, the daily eliminations will sharply decrease.

“If the gods don’t issue new rules or changes, the world will enter a prolonged period of peace.

“This long peace will favor those Chosen Ones who obtained the fragmentary guidance technique.

“Right now, it’s estimated that more than ninety percent of our nation’s Chosen Ones haven’t completed their first kill. They aren’t being eliminated yet, but in the long run, it’s inevitable.

“The gods won’t allow tranquility to last. As the game progresses and power gaps widen, simply running away will become useless.

“Originally, our country had the advantage in numbers in this ten-year hunting game, but I foresee that the proportion of our candidates surviving to compete for final victory will be very low.”

Lin Yan voiced her deepest concern.

Li Gang fell silent at her words.

If he hadn’t met Lin Yan, he would have kept fleeing, hiding during the early stages, never daring to hunt anyone despite the allure of the mysterious first kill reward.

Such a path would likely have meant dying before the end—perhaps not even making it through the middle stages.